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Saturday, May 24, 2008

Cinnamon buns... in cookie form!

What better way to start out a holiday weekend than with a batch of freshly baked cookies? I woke up early and dove right in preparing these Caramel-Cinnamon Crunch Icebox Cookies as there are multiple steps that require resting time in between and because we also had plans to spend plenty of time outside in the fresh spring air today!

The dough for these spiral cookies took just a few minutes to prepare - if you don't have time to wait for the butter to soften, a quick way is to just slice it into thin pats and place it in your mixing bowl. It comes up to temperature pretty fast this way - just try not to let it get too soft! The dough is soft and slightly sticky - rather than placing it into the refrigerator to firm up before you can even roll it (or drying it out by adding flour as you roll), just toss it between two sheets of parchment paper (wax paper also works well here) and make it flat and square with your favorite pin. While you do need to chill it down anyway to finish working with it, a thin, flat pre-shaped dough will get firm enough to work with much faster than a thick blob!

On your tidy square piece of cookie dough, a drizzle of caramel-esque flavored golden syrup (I use Lyle's) is poured on top. Don't have golden syrup? That's fine, go for a different flavor and use pure maple syrup or even your favorite zesty honey! For that cinnamon bun flare, brown sugar and cinnamon are then sprinkled on top of the sticky syrup, followed by a couple tablespoons of crunchy toasted pecans. The dough is then rolled up ala cinnamon bun style - use the bottom piece of parchment to keep it moving while trying to keep the roll fairly tight. To get the best, clean and non-squished spirals, the dough at this point needs to be stashed in the freezer for a few hours to firm back up. To help keep the dough in a round log, cut a slit down the middle of a paper towel tube and slip the dough inside - this will give the dough just enough structure so it won't flatten out.

Bake these until the outer ring of the cookies take on a golden hue - once ready, remove them and be sure to leave them on the baking sheet to cool slightly as the sugary spirals inside will need a minute to solidify. You don't have to do this next step, but to make them even more "cinnamon roll" like, a sweet combination of confectioners' sugar, milk and a splash of vanilla are whisked together and drizzled over the top of each cookie.

There was no way not to be seduced by the sexy cinnamon aroma that swept through the house as these sat on the cooling rack, waiting to be nibbled on - I have a sneaking suspicion that these gems will not last long around here!